Soul Sight
by Quetzalcoatls
Summary: Dean catches a glimpse of feathers he shouldn't be able to see. Cas is curious and more than slightly amused. But as Deans sight gets stronger he starts to realize there's a bit more to his and Castiels relationship then he'd first thought. no slash. ace cas. fluff.
1. Chapter 1

Dean was not having a good day. Sam was currently in the hospital with a broken arm and a concussion after a fight with a particularly bitchy ghost. And they were going to have to wait until he got discharged for Cas to heal him because it was one thing to miraculously wake up from a coma or 'turn out not to be that badly hurt' but broken bones after the x-rays had already been taken would be much harder to explain away. Currently he was pacing around their motel room. Sam had kicked him out after he had just about worn a hole in the floor. Sam wanted to be out as soon as possible just as much as Dean did, but if he was going to have to sit there for three days he was not going to let Dean drive him insane in the meantime.

A flutter of feathers was his only warning before Cas was suddenly about three inches away from his face. Dean rocked back on his heels, mildly annoyed. Cas studied him intently, not even seeming to breath (honestly he might not be, sometimes Dean wondered) "Sam will be fine Dean, I'll heal him once he's out of the hospital." Dean sighed at this and nodded distractedly. An odd feeling of warmth wrapped around him making him sigh. It took a moment to realize that A. Cas didn't hug people, B Cas wasn't touching him. Dean frowned uncertainly and concentrated on the feeling. The warmth was concentrated over his shoulders and back like he'd thrown on a jacket hot out of the dryer. What the heck? Frowning Dean reached over his shoulder, the warm feeling skittered across his finger as Cas pulled back looking startled.

"Did you feel that?" he asked, puzzled. His head tilted to the side in that odd way that angels always seemed to.

"Uh, yeah? What is that?" Dean answered, a frown on his face at the loss of the warmth, he'd been enjoying that damn it.

"You can feel?" Cas seemed more then slightly taken aback at this development. Dean had a sudden thought, it couldn't be – could it?

"Cas…was that your wing?" he asked uncertainly. Castiel nodded still looking startled. The warmth brushed over Deans arm. Dean hesitated before reaching out to where he guessed the rest of the wing was. Warmth ghosted over his fingers once more. He frowned concentrating on the sensation, after a moment it wasn't just warmth but the ghostly feeling of soft feathers under his fingers. He pulled back embarrassed. "Uh, sorry." He said Cas blinked and gave him once of those tiny smiles of his that they so rarely saw.

"It is alright Dean. Can you see them?" Dean shook his head, not sure if he'd gone and done something weird again. Castiel gave him a thoughtful look before the feeling of ghostly feathers brushed over his hand again. "Concentrate on what you can feel, you might be able to should you focus." Dean nodded uncertainly and concentrated on the feathers he could feel. It reminded him of that one time he'd gotten to pet a parrot when he was younger, but these feathers were even more impossibly soft then that. But the feeling of heat the down underneath seemed to radiate was the same. After a minute he caught the barest impression of the outline of long feathers out of the corner of his eye. He looked over frowning. After a moment he was able to pick out the arch of the wing. It wasn't solid, not even like ghostly smoke, it was like the light was bending ever so lightly as it passed through something.

"Hu." He muttered to himself trying to focus on the edge he could sort of see. The edge seemed to sharpen as more details faded in the longer he looked. Almost like a wire sculpture of wings now. There was no color or mass really, only the warping in the air that made them look like glass.

The wing pulled away from him, he blinked and looked at Cas, mildly annoyed. He'd almost had it! Cas looked faintly amused. "Don't strain yourself, Dean. You're seeing with senses you've never used before."

"What do you mean?" Cas hummed thoughtfully before trying to explain.

"Although you are perceiving what you are seeing and feeling with physical senses that's not actually what you were doing. It's just how you are used to processing your senses. It was not your hand that was feeling my wing but your soul. Most humans cannot feel passed physical sensations to perceive what their soul can. It's best you leave it for now though, I'm not the only thing you will be able to see now. It would be best for you to adjust to what you can now perceive rather than try to see everything at once. It would overwhelm you." Dean nodded, made sense he supposed, he really wanted to see what color Cas's wings were though. Still weird to think he was seeing with his soul. He glanced back at Cas, the outline of wings folded neatly against his back standing out fairly easily.

"So, why can I suddenly see things like this?" he asked after a moment.

"When I raised your soul from hell I gave you a tiny piece of my Grace in order to heal you. It's possible that your soul has only now adjusted to the addition and is using the Grace as a _lens_ of sorts" So what, his soul was wearing glasses now? Cas's expression turned thoughtful. "I wonder if you would be capable of hearing my true voice now?" Dean took a step back at that.

"Lets leave that experiment for later, Cas." He disagreed hastily. "Even if I can hear you, you broke glass last time you tried that, and I don't want to have to grab a different hotel room right now. " Castiel nodded in agreement at that.

"Perhaps a different experiment then?" He asked. Great, Dean thought, exasperated.

"What did you have in mind?"

"A walk, I'm curious to know what you can see. And it would be better if I am with you the first time in case you are overwhelmed by what you are seeing."

"Uh,ok?"

Xxx


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It hadn't been as obvious in the hotel room, but the moment Dean stepped outside he was forced to just stop and stare. Everything was glowing. Well mostly it was things that were alive, people, and plants….the Impala. He blinked and eyed the car warily,. The glow wasn't really that strong, although it did seem to vary depending on the object. Just a ghostly shine in the air around them. Castiel watched him intently. "Why is the car glowing?" Dean finally asked. Cas tilted his head that tiny smile of his reappearing.

"It happens sometimes. An object or place can be imbued with a certain kind of life by the people who care about them. "The angel explained. Dean turned to look at him incredulously.

"The car's alive?" he demanded. Cas's look turned thoughtful.

"Not in the way you would think of it. Although perhaps someday." He added. Dean hesitated before deciding to let it go. He just nodded and turned his attention to the various other things that were glowing. The glow that seemed to be coming from various trees and bushes was fairly consistent, but the people, that was another story all together. He focused on a lady walking down the sidewalk across the street from the hotel. On the surface she looked normal enough, but the glow around her was a shifting mess of yellow and orange, with patches of a grass green. The yellow and orange were, unsettling, for some reason.

"What do the colors mean?" Dean asked, frowning heavily at the woman. Now that he was really looking at her there was a bit of a bruise purple mixed in there as well. Urk. Nasty looking. Cas frowned, looking at the woman as well.

"Greens and blues are the colors a human soul is supposed to be, the brightness and shade mean different things, generally lighter shades are better. Your own soul is nearly white, tinged with a bit of blue." Dean nearly rolled his eyes. Cas seemed to be a bit obsessed with how he had such a pure soul sometimes.

"The yellow and red?" he asked instead.

"Red is anger, yellow jealousy. Black is as you might guess – is sin. Purple is…a darkness that isn't quite yet sin. As long as the soul shows purple rather than black it can still be saved." Cas looked away from the woman and to Dean, studying him, there was a softer edge to the expression. "When I found you in Hell your soul was dark blue, shot through with purple. Contrary to what you seem to think, you never became a demon." Dean very carefully did _not _look at Castiel. Instead he headed down the street studying the people as he went. Castiel following faithfully along at his shoulder. Most people were fairly pastel shades of green with splashes of blue. Each with their own shifting whirl of other colors. Surprisingly flew people showed any purple that he could see.

"I'm surprised there's so few people with any purple or even black." He finally said after another ten minutes. Cas glanced at him, eyes narrowed slightly.

"Most humans mange quite well. For all the things they do, they have a very good sense of where the line between true good and evil actually is. Such is the ability that humanity gained through eve's actions. Most humans don't want to be evil, even if they don't consciously realize the inclination, and knowing where that line is - they avoid it well enough."

Dean stared at Cas, bemused, he had never really thought about it that way. Most people and creatures always seemed to say that humans were inclined towards sin and evil, but that didn't really make sense when you actually thought about it. He was about to asked something else when a horrible sensation washed over him. He froze shuddering. Cas was at his side in an instant, those not quite there crystalline wings half spread.

Cas wasn't looking at him through, he was staring about two blocks down the street on the other side. Dean finally got a hold of himself and straighten up even if he did still feel like he was going to hurl. When he followed cas's gaze and saw what he was looking at he nearly did. The supposedly normal person walking down the street was sounded by a boiling black cloud. Most of which seemed to be buried under his skin. Demon. Dean stared, for all that it did rather look like the same kind of black cloud they always did. There was just something infinitely more horrifying about it now. Castiel made a low sound and folded a wing around Dean. For all that he could still see though the translucent feathers, the black cloud was now no more than a grey haze. Dean blinked trying to get a further hold of himself, and, …had Cas just _growled?_

Right moving on.

"Thanks, Cas." He grunted a bit weakly. Cas nodded but didn't takes his eyes off the demon until it had disappeared around another corner, not having noticed either of them as out of the norm.

"You're welcome Dean, this is why I wished to be with you the first time you went outside. I was certain you would have a few strong reactions." Dean nodded, grimacing as the nauseous feeling the demon had caused faded as it got further away.

"Going to be kinda hard to fight demons if I fall over every time I get within a block of one. "He pointed out darkly. Cas tilted his head to the side, thoughtful, before nodding.

"Angels require extensive training to avoid similar reactions. I will be glad to help you." Dean smiled a little wryly at this, angel training hu? Should be interesting.

"Thanks Cas." Castiel nodded, with a faint smile before they continued on their way. After a few minutes Dean noticed that they weren't far from the hospital.

"We should stop by and check on Sam." he commented, Cas studied him for a moment, not breaking his stride.

"I had planned on it. I do not want you to see your brother for the first time without me there." Dean stopped walking, eying Cas with a heavy frown.

"Why?" he demanded. Cas hesitated, before sighing softly.

"Due to the demons blood Sam's soul looks far darker than it actually is." he finally said. "It is why i was so, short, with him initially. it took me a time to see that it was just the surface. Your brothers soul is very bright once you look past the blood." he finished. Dean stared, horrified. just what the fuck did Sam's soul look like? If he reacted to him like he had to the demon, fuck, not cool. He didn't want Sam to see that! He would take it the worst way possible, he was good at that.

X X X

quetzal - so i had a plot bunny for the story just now. originally it was just supposed to be a fluffy thing that was just tooth rottingly cute, but i haz IDEAS now. ...which are still tooth rottingly cute, but now with more plot!


	3. Chapter 3

Quetzal - yay! chapter! i should have gone to sleep five hours ago! if theres a sentence that doesn't make sense then thats probably why!

X X X

Chapter 3

Sam looked up when Castiel walked into the room, rather than just popping in like he normally did. He'd only kicked Dean out a few hours before, Sam sighed, wondering if Dean had sent Cas to check on him. "Sam" Cas acknowledged politely. Sam nodded , faintly exasperated.

"Something wrong?" he asked. Cas looked thoughtful at that, Sam felt dread pooling in his stomach. "Cas?" he asked, warily.

"It would appear the small amount of Grace I gave your brother when I healed him after Hell as caused him to develop an ability uncommon in humans." He finally said. Sam stared.

"I..is he ok?" he asked moving to pry himself out of bed and check on his idiotic brother before he got himself into something stupid (pot meet kettle). The disapproving look Cas shot him made him wince and settle back against the pillows once more.

"Dean is fine." He explained dryly. Sam stared at him, knowing damn well that wasn't it.

"What exactly can he do now?" he finally asked when the angel made no move to say anything more. Cas tilted his head to the side thoughtfully.

"He had gained the ability to see via his soul. Thus allowing him to view things about the world not normally visible to humans, such as my wings and other humans souls." Sam blinked, Dean could see Castiels wings? Sam felt a faint flicker of jealousy at that, wondering what they must look like.

"So he's alright then? Where is he?"

"Your brother is currently in the lobby waiting for me to go get him." Cas answered. Sam sighed, he hated it when Cas got like this.

"Why is he in the lobby instead of telling me himself?" Cas was silent for a long moment before giving him a slightly worried look. Something Sam didn't remember seeing for anything less than double digit numbers of demons.

"Due to the demons blood your soul looks extremely unsettling on the surface. He did not wish for himself to potentially react negatively without you understanding why your presence was making your brother uncomfortable." Sam wanted to just crumple at that. He knew his soul was tainted, but that it would be bad enough to make Dean and his new ability freak out? He had hoped , but. "Your soul is not corrupted Samuel Winchester." Cas all but snapped at him before Sam could completely descend into a pity party. "On the surface it is tainted, but once one looks beyond that your soul is far brighter than most humans." Cas rebuked. Sam winced, embarrassed.

"Uh, right…" Sam nodded, Cas studied him for a moment before adding one more thing.

"Deans sight is still relatively weak, he will not be able to see past the surface yet." _hu?_ Sam thought for a moment before he understood. So dean wouldn't be able to see anything but the demons blood. Sam wilted a bit at this. "I explained it to Dean already. He understands that it is not how your soul truly is, but he must adjust to you before his ability grows any stronger." Sam stared for a moment before sighing heavily.

"Alright, get him up here." Sam finally agreed, wondering if Dean was going to go running out of the room or something because he looked horrifying. Cas considered him for a long moment before nodding and vanished.

X X X

Dean was weathering the slightly gross feeling as he got closer to Sam's room pretty well. It was nothing like the demon which had nearly knocked him flat. This just left him feeling sort of vaguely uncomfortable. He paused outside Sam's hospital room, bracing himself, before stepping inside.

Dean stared, Sam stared back worriedly. Dean blinked a few times in stunned silence, before speaking.

"Dude, that is Fucking gross looking." He finally said. Sam gave him a decidedly blank look, having expected something a bit more – violent, than that. Dean saw the look and raised an eye brow. "What were you expecting Sammy? For me to scream and run away like a little bitch?" he smirked. Sam chuckled a little weakly, looking embarrassed. "Still looks gross as fuck." Dean added. Sam scowled.

Cas watched the exchange curiously. "What do you see Dean?" he asked, an edge of concern in his voice. Dean frowned at him before looking back at Sam.

"It's that purple color, really dark purple in spots, but no black….but there's like – cracks in it. And a kinda sky blue showing through there."He answered with a shrug. Cas and Sam starred at him. "What?" he asked defensively. Cas hesitated, uncertain.

"You shouldn't have been able to see the cracks, or the blue." he finally said, sounding faintly worried. "The Demon must have affected you more then it seemed. Your soul is becoming more attuned to my Grace faster than I had thought it could."

"Will he be alright?" Sam asked shooting Dean worried looks.

"…My Grace in of itself cannot harm him, even if it wasn't becoming attuned to his soul. Deans body and soul can withstand an Archangel just as you can, my grace is not powerful enough to do him real damage. Whether he can adapt to the abilities he seems to be gaining is another matter, I simply don't know" Dean and Sam exchanged another worried look at this. Right so bad, but not really bad.

"So just keep an eye on the situation and don't get carried away, right?" Sam asked, Cas nodded.

"Yes, I will need to work with Dean on his new senses soon as well, as it is he cannot stand the presence of Demons and still be capable of defending himself." Sam shot Dean a looked a bit chagrined.

"I almost fucking fell over and felt like i was gonna puke, and i wasn't even right next to it." Sam swore softly at this.

"He will be able to handle it eventually right?" Sam asked. Cas nodded.

"He should. all angels must be trained to tolerate the presence of demons long enough to kill them so it can certainly be done."

"Right, that good i guess. how long does that normally take?" Sam asked. Cas gave him a faintly amused look.

"Many hundreds of years." he waited a beat before adding. "Of course angels are many many time more sensitive then Dean currently is." Dean glared at him, one eye brow twitching.

"Dude, not funny." Cas merely gave him a look that said in no uncertain terms 'i have no idea what your talking about'. Sam snickered.

X X X

quetzal - ha, had you going there with sammy, didn't i?


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Sam was sitting on the hood of the Impala reading a book in the middle of some field in Oklahoma. The reason for this was scowling in concentration a few dozen meters away and periodically chasing thin air.

Deans abilities had continued to skyrocket as the weeks continued, it had gotten to the point where Castiel had all but ordered them to avoid large population centers until Dean got a handle on his new sight. The 'thin air' he was chasing was actually Cas. Cas was in his true form on a different layer of reality. Dean couldn't actually see him, but what he could see more or less amounted to ripples. Like when a fish suddenly darts away without actually breaking the surface of the water. You never see the fish, but if your watching can see the eddy. It was actually pretty funny to watch.

He heard a distinctly gleeful "AH HA!" out of Dean followed by a flash of light and a pained yelp from the Hunter. Sam almost shot off the hood and across the field to where Dean had fallen - nearly out of sight in the long grass. The swearing at least told him Dean hadn't hurt himself too badly. Cas appeared abruptly right in front of him, leaning over Dean. Sam sidestepped before he ran into the angel and looked down at his brother as well. Dean was glaring at his hand, his fingers looked a bit scorched. Like he'd gone and touched something a little too hot, he wasn't really burnt, just singed a bit.

"The fuck was that?" he demanded giving Cas a rather offended look at the apparent zapping. Cas was staring at Dean, dumbfounded.

"You…" he fell silent apparently not sure how to phrase most recent bout of impossible.

"Dude, spit it out. The fuck just happened?" Cas gave himself a little shake.

"You…you managed to touch my true form even though another plane of reality." He almost stuttered it out. Sam and Dean stared at him.

"What?" Dean echoed, stunned. Cas reached out and tugged Deans scorched hand into better view.

"You're barely even harmed." He muttered, amazed. "At the least grazing my true form like that should have left you severely burnt! If not without your hand. But…you're barely even hurt." Dean and Sam both stared at his hand as well.

"This is starting to get absurd." Sam finally muttered, with a shake of his head. Dean shot his brother an agreeing look. Cas was still frowning.

"Dean, what do my wings look like to you right now?" Dean blinked and studied him.

"Uh…kinda like smoky quartz with this like, silvery blue color on the ends." Cas stared at him, looking mildly disturbed by this.

"You couldn't see the blue three days ago." he finally said. Dean had a helpless shrug and sat up.

"Dude, you're the angel, I have no idea what's going on, sorry." Castiel sighed and nodded straightening up as he did so.

"I wish I could consult with the others on this." He fretted. Looking at Dean with worry. Dean picked himself up off the ground.

"We both know they would either try to kill me or use this to make me say Yes somehow." He argued, Cas nodded, looking tired.

"I know, but I worry that this will harm you. I almost cannot sense my grace within you anymore." The other two frowned.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked worriedly. "I thought your grace was what was doing this?" Cas tilted his head to the side, staring at Dean hard.

"I can sense this Grace the way I do because quite simply it is _my_ Grace. In the last week or so I have begun to lose touch with it. It is still there and just as powerful, if not more so, but it is not quite…._mine_, anymore." He looked troubled by this. Dean was looking at Cas with a slightly particular frown on his face. Sam wasn't quite sure what that one meant, he'd never really seen it much before, and only with Cas it seemed.

"Is that hurting you?" Dean asked.

"No, loosing that tiny of a piece of Grace can't really hurt me." Dean nodded slowly, eyeing Cas suspiciously.

X X X

One week later.

Dean cursed loudly as the trickster vanished again. He could tell he was practically right where he'd been a second before though, watching them. Dean got a slight glint in his eyes. "Hey Sam?" Sam looked from where Loki had been standing to him. "Close your eyes for a second would you?" Sam starred at him for a moment before his lips twitched ever so slightly into a smile before he ironed the expression flat and nodded. Dean waited until Sam's eyes were closed. Looking carefully the way he had been practicing he spotted Loki still parked right in front of them just slightly outside of this little pocket dimension. Dean lunged.

The high pitched shriek of surprise was highly gratifying even if it did make his ears ring. Dean sniggered as Loki beat a hasty retreat. Even through his amusement though he couldn't help but think that he'd never heard a pagan god make a sound like that, not even when he killed them. But he knew something else that sounded like that…

The only question was what the hell they were going to do about it.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

XXX

All it had taken was a look at Sam, his brother nodded slowly, he knew what the screech meant as well. Not much they could do about it now. Turning around Dean surveyed the hospital, like before the place looked a bit transparent and glowy. Not surprising given that it was all apparently fake. "Any idea's on how to get out?" Sam asked, Dean shook his head.

"No, looks weird but there aren't any invisible exit signs Sammy." Sam rolled his eyes and they headed down the hall, point blank ignoring anyone who tried to talk to them. This was great until Dean finally snapped at one of the tricksters 'actors' and got shot for his trouble. Dean heard the click of the trigger and twisted while shoving Sam out of the way. The bullet slammed into his arm, earning a snarl of out Dean as he turned around tore the gun out of the fakes hand and threw him into the wall. Sam watched, incredulous as the man actually cracked the wall before sliding to the floor.

"Dean?" He demanded racing over to the still glaring hunter. Sam yanked him around by his good arm and pulled the sleeve of the white coat up inspecting the injury. The bullet had gone clear through the lower part of his upper arm. Missing the bone and leaving a messy hole. Sam stared, shocked. But it wasn't the bullet hole itself that had made him grind to a halt. It was the fact that Deans blood looked like someone had gone and dumped glowing silver glitter in it. "uh, Dean?" Dean's head snapped around from where he was still glowering at the man on the floor even as several other 'nurses' talked him for security.

"What?" he demanded. Sam gestured wordlessly at his blood. Dean craned his head to get a look and blinked in surprise. "Well that ain't normal." He muttered.

"You think it's?" Sam trailed off. Dean snorted and tugged his sleeve down before making a beeline for the nearest storage room for a roll of gauze

"You honestly think it's something else?" he asked dryly. Sam sighed and shook his head and followed with a resigned look on his face.

X X X

Gabriel watched the exchange with wary interest. Making sure to hide himself far better this time. Deans little stunt had actually shocked him, and more over had done so badly enough to give himself away. That had pissed him off, thinking the two idiots had done some spell or something to let them spot things they shouldn't, but this….this was unexpected.

Dean was bleeding Grace. Not much, just tiny sparks of it, but no human should be doing that. He was absolutely sure that Michael hadn't set up shop in the older Winchester, and neither had any other angel. Even if he had been temporary possessed by one of his siblings Deans blood would be normal after the fact.

So….

This was going to require some hands on investigation. He popped in right behind Dean with a smirk. Sams eyes widened in a distinctly 'oh shit' expression. "Sorry Sammy, I need to barrow your brother for a bit. Mind keeping yourself out for trouble?" he flashed another grin even as Dean spun around. Grabbing the hunters shoulder he whisked them both away to a separate part of his construct.

Dean swore internally as he found himself frozen, he couldn't even blink. The room they were in was blank white with no visible entrances or exits. Loki stared at him unblinkingly for a long moment, a faint frown marring his face.

"Interesting, Dean-o. what's a human like you doing with all that Grace?" he looked over at Deans arm which he hadn't gotten a chance to wrap up. Stepping forward he tugged the sleeve up and inspected the wound. "Hm...Can't say I'm surprised, your half healed already!" he commented poking the bullet hole. Dean could look down to see if he was serious or not.

After a moment Loki let go of his arm and looked back at his face. Frowning heavily the trickster finally spoke again.

"You realize that the amount of Grace hanging out in your body should have killed you without the angel it belongs to controlling it right?" no, no he hadn't known that…and apparently Cas hadn't either. "Oh, little Castiel is just a kid, he doesn't know everything Dean-o. Probably didn't think it could hurt you being Michael's vessel and all." Loki answered with a shrug. Dean wanted to glare, he hated the fucking mind reading thing. Loki stared at him for another long moment before huffing. "I admit! I'm curious as to what the hell you soul seems to be doing, but with that Grace causing such a fuss I can't really see it clearly. I'm going to have to take a more in depth look the hard way." He smiled wryly. Dean felt dread pool in his gut. Fuck, what the hell was he going to do to him? Loki 'expression softened a hair.

"Look kid, this is going to hurt, but I'd like to think I'm above intentionally damaging your soul. You may be a bit of a fuck up, but you don't deserve that. So try not to squirm and i'll even tell you what I find out ok?" Dean stared at him, startled. The Trickster had never shown any kind of concern before for how much he hurt them in his 'jokes' why start now. Something flickered in the tricksters expression.

"You know, the reason you don't remember that whole mystery spot thing is because you were never there. I kept you stashed all safe and sound in a pocket dimension while I killed a construct repeatedly. You never died. Not even the last time where Sam spent months hunting me down, it was all one of my little sets." Dean was kinda dumbfounded at this. He admitted when they first met the guy Dean had actually liked his style. But that had worn off after the whole mystery spot thing. With an internal sigh Dean agreed. Loki flashed a grin. "Thanks Dean-o. Now like I said this is going to sting like a bitch, I'll try to be brief, right?"

With that Loki reached out placing a hand over Deans heart and pushed. The sudden agonizing pain would have had him recoiling if he'd been able to move. Loki's hand was glowing bright white as it sank into him.

Gabriel carefully ignored Deans pain as he tried to get into contact with the humans soul. It took him a moment to but then he had it. Looking carefully over the soul he could help but stare. Deans soul was solid white shot through with bright blue veins. The blue Grace was shocking enough but Deans soul was just so damn shinny all on its own. Kid amazed him sometimes, not even an angel could come out of hell this untainted. It was obvious that Castiel had used his Grace to heal Dean, but the Grace shot though the soul didn't feel like him…it felt like Dean. The human soul was actually absorbing the Grace. And more over it wasn't just changing the soul as such, the soul was also changing it.

Gabriel grinned to himself suddenly, if this little transformation kept up….well, no vessel for dear old Michael. He wasn't sure just what Dean was turning into, not an angel – or at least not really. But he doubted that whatever it was would be able to act as a vessel. Well…this changed the game a bit, didn't it?"

X X X

Dean woke up abruptly not really aware that he had lost consciousness. "Good you're awake! I was beginning to worry." He looked up to see the grinning face of Loki. He groaned - hell of way to wake up in the morning. Loki pouted. "You're no fun!" he complained. Dean snorted and sat up, he was sitting on a hotel room bed. A hotel room that was far more high end then he'd ever stayed in. a quick glance showed Sam snoring away on the other bed. "Don't worry, he's just sleeping. I'll wake him up when were done chatting." Dean glanced over at him, still wary. Even if the little revelation about the tricksters attitude had cooled his outright hatred of him, he wasn't about to trust the bastard just yet.

"So, what did you find out?" Dean asked flatly. Loki rolled his eyes.

"Right to the point, hu?" he sighed and leaned against the wall studying him for a long moment. "Well, first things first – you're not human anymore."

"WHAT?" Dean yelped, a horrified look on his face. Loki rolled his eyes.

"It's not like your turning into a demon, don't get your panties in a twist sweetheart." He deadpanned. "You're soul is…odd. The Grace you got from Castiel is changing you, but you're also changing it. So whatever your turning into isn't quiet an angel. But nor is it something like a Nephil, you're looking to be something new Dean-o" Dean stared at him, dumbfounded. It was one thing when he was just picking up some wired angelic senses and stuff, but – to not be human anymore? "On another note, this is actually really good for you!" Dean blinked, and gave him a blank look. Loki sighed in exasperation. "You humans, one problem at a time, try multitasking sometime!" he huffed, a smirk on his face. "If you're not human kiddo, you can't be a vessel. If either Michael or Lucifer can't get their TRUE vessels then the apocalypse can't happen _as it was written_. Now, if this was Lucifer this wouldn't really make a difference, but Michael…well. Michael kinda big on doing it by the book." Dean continued to give him a blank look.

"Why would he care? He'd probably just say it was something we did and change me back or something!" Dean countered. Loki shook his head grinning.

"Nope! You weren't listening Dean. I said _you were changing the Grace_ not just the other way around. Grace, well….how to explain this.. it's like, uh..with computers! Read only files? You can look at it and it can do things, but you can't alter it in anyway even a fallen angels Grace is still _Grace_. Grace is like that, it should be impossible for your soul to be altering that Grace. But it is, and there's only one person that can make _that_ happen." Dean was wide eyed at this. Most people seemed to always think he was an idiot, but he was not in any way stupid – he just enjoyed the simpler things in life. Dean knew exactly what Loki meant with that.

"You're not saying…." Dean trailed off not sure if he really wanted to say it. Loki was grinning now, he looked about five seconds away from outright bouncing in glee.

"Yup! While little Cas was running around trying to find God, it looks like he paid you a personal visit and tweaked your soul a bit! And Michaels going to know exactly what I do! Archangels are the only ones that do! Only Dad can modify grace like that! Looks like God doesn't want the apocalypse any more then you do!" Dean blinked and slowly raised an eye brow.

"You called him Dad." He pointed out mildly, a faint smirk curling at the corner of him mouth. Loki blinked. "I think you also just admitted to being an Archangel….but I could be wrong there."

"Fuck"

X X X

Quetzal – oops, somebody got a little to excited there. Poor gabe. And Dean! Just what are you turning into my adorable pie loving fiend?


	6. Chapter 6

X X X

Chapter 6

X X X

"You called him Dad." He pointed out mildly, a faint smirk curling at the corner of him mouth. Loki blinked. "I think you also just admitted to being an Archangel….but I could be wrong there."

"Fuck"

Dean was openly smirking now, if Loki was really an angel – well, that certainly explained a few things. Like why repeatedly stabbing him with things was irritatingly ineffective. Dean was pulled out of his thoughts when Loki finally seemed to gather his scattered wits and paste that trickster smile of his on his face.

"An angel? Really? Dean come _on."_ Loki rolled his eyes, Dean just stared back with a raised eye brow.

"So, which one are you?" Dean asked. Loki huffed - a dangerous glint in his eyes telling Dean to drop it or else. Dean had never listened to such threats before however, and he wasn't about to start now. "Come on now Loki, share a little! The way you were just getting grabby with my soul I should think I deserve a little honesty!" Dean taunted.

"Dean, I'm LOKI, a PAGAN GOD." Loki stated dryly, "I'm not an _angel."_ Now get your head out of your ass already, we've got more important things to deal with!"

"Honestly I think this is pretty important." Dean answered blandly. Loki glared sourly at the grinning hunter.

"Dean." he growled warningly.

X X X

One week later

Normally Dean would have been pissed at being relegated to the hotel room while Sam dealt with a monster alone. But just this once he would make an exception, anything to not have to experience the horror that was _the convention_. Seriously, Sam was taking one for the team this time. He was just glad that Cas was still off somewhere in a snit, he didn't want to have to explain this particular part of human insanity to the angel.

Gabriel was at least hanging around and helping Sam, whenever he had stopped laughing long enough to be at least mildly helpful anyways – which is to say, not much. he had been kinda surprised when the fugitive Archangel had decided to follow them around. Apparently not willing to let Dean out of his sight while he was turning into whatever the hell he was turning into. Cas was, somewhere. apparently Gabriel had really pissed him off with whatever he'd done to him while running them through tv land. The angel had been avoiding them as long as Gabriel was present. Only dropping in when the archangel had left for the time being.

So Cas was MIA, Sam was hunting a ghost and he got to sit on the lumpy hotel mattress and watch reruns of Dr. Sexy while waiting for whatever upgrade he was about to get. Chuck had been pretty hazy on what exactly was going to happen to him, only that he should be out of sight of regular humans (Sam included) and that he was going to feel like absolute shit for a few hours before it happened.

Chuck had actually glared at Becky when she'd admitted to stealing his phone and calling them. Apparently if she hadn't they'd have been in a cabin in the woods somewhere with Gabriel, not having him hide out in a crowded hotel by himself while Gabe and Sam dealt with a ghost. He'd known she was going to try it but apparently something had come up and he had been distracted when she'd gone after his phone. Strangely he'd seemed more annoyed at himself then at her for that.

So yeah here he was watching TV and trying to ignore the oddly tight sensation around his heart. It felt kinda like he'd gone and swallowed a softball and it had lodged in his throat. He shifted on the bed, kicking the blanket off his legs as the current episode ended and another started up, it was damn hot in here. He perked up a bit as the first few scenes of the episode flicked by, this was a good one.

An hour later he had messed with the thermostat three times and finally just gave up on wearing his shirt. At this point he was pretty sure he had a fever or something, the thermostat proclaimed it to be a nice 68 degrees in the room but he still felt like he was cooking.

The episode was half over when the newest development appeared, he was fucking glowing. Not like bright bright, but a faint – if noticeable, goldish glow. Dean stared at his arm warily, studying the glow, wondering if the light was of the 'burn out peoples eyes' variety. It didn't seem bright enough for that but given how differently he had been seeing things lately you could never be sure. It would certainly explain why Chuck had told him to get out of sight of humans and stay there.

Giving it up as a lost cause Dean turned his attention back to the TV, trying to ignore the growing sense of lethargy that was creeping up on him. As the glow got brighter it became steadily more difficult to keep his eyes open. Whatever the fuck his soul was doing was just about sucking the life out of him. Curled up in a miserable ball on the bed a short time later, the TV a dull drone in the background, Dean wondered if the Grace his soul had absorbed was just going to kill him.

He wasn't really sure when he finally lost the battle with outright consciousness and slipped into a sort of half conscious daze. All he knew was that he point blank could not move. A hundred demons could have blasted through the door and he wouldn't have been able to twitch a finger. The idea didn't really bother him though; he got the sense that anything that came through that door right now with harm in mind would more than merely regret it. He could dimly sense that something was in the room. His new senses where a bit odd sometimes but whatever it was felt fairly nice. At least until it tugged on warping soul.

Dean tried to mentally bat the presence away, not really having any idea what he was doing, and as a result managing little more than dazed flailing. All he got in return was a sense of amusement. Annoyance brought Dean a little closer to consciousness and he put some of the little tricks Cas had been trying to teach him into practice. The psychic tricks were (barely) on par with what a weak ghost was capable of, not that that stopped him from trying. Dean reeled a moment later – feeling a bit like he'd just tried to slug a mountain.

_**"Stop squirming"**_ Whatever the hell it was huffed in faint exasperation. Dean mentally snarled at it, not willing to back down. _**"Yes, yes – you're terrifying, now stop that."**_ Dean lost what little hold on lucidity he'd had for a few moments slipping back into a vaguely grumpy haze.

The odd tension in his soul change a bit, as something was tweaked again further. He wasn't sure how much time passed before whatever it was backed off. Dean only had a moment to hazily wonder what the hell that had been about as something in his chest seemed to buckle followed by the horrific feeling of both his back and moreover his soul tearing open. Every light in the room, including the tv and even the digital clock on the side table, exploded. Outside a faint tremor ran through the hotel but no signs of the light or noise escaped the room.

Gabriel froze where he and Sam had been poking around the basement. Sam paused looking back at him in concern. "Gabriel?" he asked, worriedly. Gabe opened his mouth to say something, paused, and closed it again. Looking rather poleaxed. "Gaberiel?" Now Sam was really worried. What the hell could leave an Archangel looking like somebody had just whacked him over the head with a board? Gabriel finally blinked a few times – coming out of his funk.

"Uh, right…that was…unexpected." he finally said somewhat blankly. Sam eyed him, bemused.

"And that would be, what exactly?"

"Well, dean-o just almost blew this hotel off the map. The fact that he _didn't_ says that Dad is hanging around again. So….." Gabriel trailed off, his eyes unfocused. No doubt trying to spot God where ever he was hiding out. Sam was willing to bet that Gabriel wouldn't be able to spot God unless he damn well wanted him to.

"Right, is dean ok?" Sam asked, giving the question of whether or not God was around up as a lost cause. Gabriel frowned.

"Uh, I think so? I'll go and check on him. Make sure he didn't explode."

X X X

Dean's mind was slow to dredge itself back out of the exhausted pit it had fallen into. He felt like a limp noodle, he tried to roll over only for a soft rustling sound and the sense of weight on his back to stop him. Dean was still for a long moment, dread pooling in his gut. _No fucking way._ He cracked an eye open and looked over his should suspiciously, not really sure if he wanted to know.

The arch of a half folded wing obscured his sight of the rest of the room.

"Oh wow," Dean flinched at Gabriel's words, the archangel appearing out of nowhere as per usual. "Well, aren't you a pretty bird?" he chirped gleefully. Dean glared at him. The shiny copper wings fluffing up in answer to his annoyance. Gabriel bounded over getting a closer look at Deans new appendages. It was immediately obvious, to him at least, that these were not angel wings. An angels wings were like crystallized light, Deans new penny bright appendages looked like metal. Every feather bright copper with a silver shaft. The effect was quite striking. Reaching out he poked one of the long primary feathers. The quills bent and flexed like living feathers, much as an angel crystalline feathers did.

"Dude, hands off." Dean groaned trying to roll away off the bed and only succeeding in flailing his wings around. Dean toppled off the bed with a yelp, hitting the floor with an undignified thump. Gabriel leaned over the bed to stare down at him in amusement. Dean eyed the wing on his right side in utter bafflement, the other one currently squashed under him. "What the fuck?" He demanded the feathers bristling in response to his aggravation. Gabriel snickered and reached out to grab the leading edge of the wing and get a better look at it.

He recoiled with a hiss of honest pain, a glowing silver slice on his palm. It wasn't much worse than a paper cut, but it was a real injury. Gabriel eyed Deans wings with a wary air now. Now that he was looking for it the previously soft and somewhat fluffy feathers had slicked down. A careful prod revealed the larger ones to be hard and inflexible. He considered the glinting edges carefully. Dean was packing a few thousand razor blades on his back it would seem. Razor blades that could actually do damage. Interesting. Angels could harden their wings to use them as a shield, or just bash things, but not to cut like it would seem Deans could.

"Those things are weaponized, Dean-o. Better watch that temper of yours or you'll be slicing everybody to ribbons." Dean swore softly and rolled off his other wing. Shaking the worst of the ruffled feathers back into line with an instinctive flick. He paused and frowned at the action. A little unsettled at how easy it was to move them. No different than using his arms really.

"How the fuck did I not cut myself falling on them?" he demanded, checking his side for nicks and finding nothing. Gabriel shrugged.

"Could be any number of reasons, now Dean-o, I'm pretty sure daddy was over here – he wouldn't have happened to stop to chat did he?" Dean frowned, trying to think. Nothing was really coming to mind.

"I know..well, _someone_ was here, I don't remember much other than that, sorry."Dean shrugged, flicking a scowl at the wings that had echoed the movement. Gabriel sighed, a resigned look on his face.

"I suppose that would have been too easy." He muttered, Dean nodded distractedly in agreement as he tried to get his wings folded up on his back. They were surprisingly small and just about fit into the curve of his back. Only extending a few inches above and below. Cas's wings would probably be nearly twice the size of his own. Angel wings from what he'd seen just never quite seemed to work with the human bodies they wore. The wings were just too large. Cas's wings when folded rested with the highest joint just above his head, the primary feathers just brushing the bottom edge of his trench coat – spread out he had a more than twenty foot wingspan. It's not that they looked ungainly or anything, but if they had actual been human those wings would be awkward as hell. Honestly when people thought of humans with wings they tended to picture them like that. Dean figured his smaller wings wouldn't be _too_ much trouble, all together his wings span was probably more like 10 or 12 feet. Dean frowned over his shoulder at the coppery wings. You know, he could probably wear a coat over these things without any real trouble.

"Hey, are these things visible? Or are they like your guys's wings?" he asked, Gabriel dragged his attention back to him from where he'd been staring at the far wall and muttering darkly. The archangel peered at him intently for a moment.

"No, they're not visible. Although you can probably make them visible without much trouble if you want. And don't worry about poking holes in your jacket those things aren't physical any more than mine are." Dean nodded and picked himself up off the ground. Surprised when the wings didn't upset his balance any. "They wouldn't, they're not physically there, their an extension of your soul. No actual weight, although you're going to need to adapt to them a bit, they _will_ throw you off if you start flapping around when you're trying to fight or something."

"Uh, right." Dean huffed, annoyed. The wings resttling on his back with a rustle, the feathers loosing the sharpness they'd held a moment before. The sound of wing beats cut off what he'd been about to say. Cas flickered into existence. They both froze. Cas stared at the copper wings that had flared out in surprise. Gabriel glanced between them and had to suppress a snicker.

"See something you like little brother?" he teased. Cas didn't even look at him to busy looking at Deans wings. Dean shot Gabriel a look that promised pain before turning back to Castiel who had stepped forward and was running a hand through the feathers on the wing closest to him.

"Cool hu?" Dean asked. Cas looked up at him and smiled faintly.

"They are beautiful, Dean." Dean went red at that, grumbling. Gabriel laughed at him and was forced to duck a moment later when one razor sharp copper wing scythed through the spot where his head had been.

"Fuck off Gabriel." He snapped. Gabriel took a step back, hands up in mock surrender.

"I can see when I'm not wanted." He teased. "I'll leave you two love birds alone, I'm sure Sammy's started worrying by now."Gabriel blinked out, Dean could sense him flit away through that layer of reality the Cas had been teaching him to sense. He looked back at Cas with a huff of annoyance.

"they truly are amazing, Dean." Cas repeated carfully examining the silver shaft of a small downy feather near the wrist joint. Dean grumbled at that, he was _not_ amazing.

"so, Gabriel was too busy being a smart ass to actually help, but – am I an angel now or something?" Dean asked warily, Cas frowned and did his little head tilt as he seemed to stare straight through Dean. Dean was pretty used to this behavior by now and let the Angel do his staring.

"No, you are not an angel…." Cas trailed off there frowning at him in puzzlement. "it's strange you're not truly human any more, but…. Your soul is _like_ an angels grace, but not in of itself – angelic. It almost…" Cas trailed off again, studying him.

"Almost what?" Dean asked warily. Cas gave him a searching look for a moment before answering.

"Your soul still feels human in a similar manner that a demons soul still feels human, but while a Demon is darkness…your light – the same kind of light as an angel." Cas stopped again looking rather stumped. Dean, really wasn't sure about being compared to a demon. But the way Cas had phrased it, he wasn't saying that Dean felt like a demon. It was more like. Whatever intrinsic parts of a human's soul that _stayed human_ enough to be identified as such even in demons was what had remained human in him. Or something like that. it was more than a little unsettling then that he was now as far off 'human' as a demon was – just in apparently the other direction.

Cas's expression brightened suddenly. "I can't wait to teach you to fly, regardless of what you may be now." Dean blinked a flash of horror cutting through him at the idea of flying. _Oh hell no. _

X X X

Quetzal - so, what do you think of Deans wings? and yes, that was God dean was flailing at. we'll see more of him later. here is a comparison of Dean and Cas's wings. they really are meant to be different and it will be relevant later. so check that out if the description didn't do it for you. the image should also be with the version of this over on AO3. sta dot sh/01qn94z9spa2


	7. Chapter 7

Q - annnnd chapter 7! hope you all like it, been a while coming, sorry about that. this chapter came out a bit different then intended. and is a bit...looney toonish at times i feel. nobody gets any anvils dropped on their head but Gabriel does end up doing a bit of a wily coyote (he deserved it)

X X X

Chapter 7

Sam was looking a bit peeved as Cas poked and prodded at what appeared to be thin air at Dean back. The wings were, as Gabriel had said, very much invisible and intangible. Although whether or not he _could_ make them visible at some point was still up for debate. Still Sam couldn't see them, and hearing Cas wax on about the lovely copper and silver feathers seemed to be getting to him.

A rapid knock on the door had everyone freezing for a moment. Cas considered the closed door for a moment before speaking "It's the prophet." He observed before turning back to examining Dean's feathers. Sam sighed and got up to open the door. Chuck just about shot under Sam's arm before the hunter could say anything. Sam turned around one hand still on the door to see Chuck grab thin air on Deans other side and start all but babbling about how cool the wings were, and wow they were shinny – he hadn't thought they would be this shinny. Sam's eye brow twitched. Dean smothered a snigger while trying to drag his wing out of the grabby prophets grasp.

"So, you can see them then?" Sam commented dryly. Chuck paused and looked back at Sam with a faint frown, Dean caught an edge of apology in the prophet's gaze.

"Uh, yeah….sorry." if Dean hadn't been looking at Chuck and not Sam he never would have caught the odd little flicker in Chucks aura...or whatever the hell it was called. The normal bright blue with green eddies had for a moment seemed to have the slightest lacing of gold through it. It was gone almost as quickly as it had appeared. Dean frowned wondering what the hell gold meant. He'd never seen that color before. Angels were generally silver white but Gabriel, when he wasn't bothering too hard too hide at least, was white shot through with a warm sunshine yellow. That was the closest he'd ever seen to the kind of clear gold he'd caught there for a moment.

What he didn't know was that Chucks wince a moment later had very little to do with Sam being the only one in the room who couldn't see Deans wings. 'Chuck' very carefully didn't look at Dean. Apparently Dean's ability to see the true nature of souls was getting more powerful then he'd though it would. Normally he didn't have to be _quite_ that careful unless Raphael was actually doing his job…which was rarely. Brat was lucky he wasn't actually the prophet or he'd have been a very dead prophet. With Gabriel off causing trouble in California he had relaxed a little too much. 'Chuck' sighed and turned back to examining Dean's wing nonchalantly, he would have to be more careful around Dean from now on it would seem.

X X X

"Dude no." Dean snapped for what had to be the tenth time in as many minutes. Cas was giving him a faintly sad puppy look. Sam was sniggering behind his book. Chuck at least had left earlier to attempt to wrangle the remaining fans into _actually leaving_. Dean scowled at both of them. "I do not want to learn how to fly. I don't need to fly. It's fine. _Leave it alone." _He growled. Cas's own wings drooped a bit for all that his face didn't really show how much Deans refusal to learn how to fly was upsetting him.

"Dean, it's absurd of you to avoid this! What is the problem?" Dean just glowered back at the angel and stayed silent. Sam looked curious however.

"You know, you never have explained what the fuck your issue with flying is. Why the hell does it freak you out so much?" he asked, Dean glanced at him – frowning.

"I just don't like it." he answered tartly. Sam considered his brother intently for a long moment before putting his book down and sitting up.

"_Dean."_ Sam pressed. Dean grimaced at that tone, great – little brother was on a mission now.

"Does it really matter? I don't like flying! Why is irrelevant!" Dean snapped. Sam just sighed.

"Dean, come on – seriously. How about this. If you tell us why you're afraid of flying Cas will leave you alone about it for at _least_ a week." He looked at Cas for confirmation at this, the angel hesitated a faintly mutinous look flickering across his face before he nodded reluctantly. "Alright then, Dean?" Dean glared venomously at the both of them.

"Fuck! Fine!" he snapped wings fluffing up around him in irritation. "When I was thirteen there was this hunt, Dad let you stay in school because he thought it was just a particular nasty brownie ripping people up. Turned out it was a fucking Harpy of all things. Bitch grabbed me and decided it would be funny to drop me from a few hundred feet up. Only reason I didn't die was because I hit a pine tree just right to break my fall and then landed in a lake." Sam and Cas both stared at him. Dumbfounded.

"Wow." Gabriel's voice cut in, making everyone blink and turn to stare at him, he certainly hadn't been there a moment before. Gabriel looked unusually thoughtful. "I'm honestly surprised it's something that reasonable Dean-o. I thought it would be something silly. But I'll accept 'dropped from a great height by a harpy' as a good reason for being leery of flying." He grinned here, a glint of not _quite_ malicious amusement leaking in around the edges. "You _do_ still need to learn how to fly though." Cas looked honestly worried at this pronouncement – edging closer to Dean. "I for one am happy to help!" the archangel continue brightly his gaze slid to Cas who froze. "After all I taught little Cassy how to fly, didn't I, Castiel?" A flash I real panic darted across the younger angels face and he lunged for Dean. Gabriel beat him to it vanishing with a cursing Dean in an instant. Sam stared in shock at the place his brother had been standing a moment before.

"Cas, how did Gabriel teach you how to fly?" he asked slowly.

"How do you think?" the angel answered tartly before vanishing as well in pursuit. Sam ran a hand through his hair a look of frustration on his face. Heaving a sigh he got up and made sure there was beer in the mini fridge before going to the gas station on the corner to try and find some pie. Dean was going to need to go to his happy place after this. Clear across the hotel Chuck had gone still mid conversation with Becky the moment Gabriel had made his intentions clear. A single eyebrow twitched in suppressed aggravation.

X X X

Dean only had a moment to swear bloody revenge on Gabriel before he found himself high over some massive body of water. _Really_ high. Deans wings locked up, clamped tight to his back in terror as he looked down and down and _down._ The moment passed and he was falling. Gabriel swooped past laughing.

"Come on Dean-o! It's not that hard, get those wings open!" he called as he looped through the air above the plummeting hunter.

"FUCK! THIS ISN'T FUCKING FUNNY GABRIEL!" Dean yelled "PUT ME BACK ON THE GROUND NOW!" Gabriel just laughed.

"But you're going to get there all on your own in a minute if you don't start flapping, Dean-o!"

"YOU ASSHOLE!" Dean shrieked in frustration finally managing to get passed the paralyzing terror at the fall to get his wings open. This proved to be a bad idea as the wind from his plummet promptly wrenched them back. Dean managed to haul the wings back in with the cry of pain. Gabriel just snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Oh come on you big baby! It's not that bad!" he yelled only to have to dodge as Dean suddenly halted midair. He looped back up curious. "Well that's a cool tri…"

"**_I didn't think this was funny the first time, Gabriel. And I don't think it's funny now."_** A voice echoed from seemingly nowhere. Gabriel back winged in shock. Dean recognized the voice, it was the same one that had been talking when his wings had grown in. shit…was that God? Hu, I think it might be he thought to himself as Gabriel's wings suddenly locked up. He hung in the air for a moment.

"Ah crap" he said before suddenly plummeting as Dean had been doing moments before. A few long moments passed before a massive geyser of water shot up out of the lake – signaling Gabriel's introduction with the ground. Dean snorted not feeling any pity for the archangel as he tried to stop shaking like a leaf, he kinda doubted being dumped in a lake from any height would actually hurt the jackass.

"**_I would have thought he'd remember how displeased I was _****_last_****_ time he tried that…."_** there was a sigh.

A moment later he found himself back in the hotel room – almost falling over at suddenly being upright and on the ground again. He sat down abruptly on the bed rather than end up on his ass. Sam had jumped at his sudden appearance, he took in Deans white knuckled hands and the tremor that was visible even across the room – with a nod to himself he popped open the door on the mini fridge and pulled out an entire apple pie and a beer. Dean looked blankly at the pie for a long moment before all but snatching it out of his hands. "Thanks, Sam." He managed before going to town on the pie. Sam just nodded and sat back to wait. Seeing as Gabriel wasn't here gloating obviously something else had happened. Maybe Cas had managed to cut in before Gabriel could be an utter asshole. Then again Cas would have come back with Dean if that was the case.

It was with some bemusement that Sam watched Dean eat his way through an _entire_ apple pie all on his own, plus three beers. "Where do you put it all?" he muttered Dean just shot him a wry smile his expression a still a little tight but no longer did he look like he would bolt out the window.

"Magic." He answered. Sam rolled his eyes at the predictable answer.

"So, what happened?" He asked. Dean was quiet for a long moment before sighing and taking another long gulp of beer.

"Well…" he began his tone giving no doubts to his disgust. "Gabriel thought it would be a great idea to drop me from what looked like a couple of miles up over…I honestly think it was Lake Michigan." He frowned in thought here as Sam winced. If Dean had been able to identify the coast line well enough to know that he'd been _really_ fucking high up. Dean smirked darkly. "Apparently he's done this before and God, as he put it, didn't think it was funny the first time either." Sam stared.

"God."

"Yup."

"_God_ saved you from Gabriel's idea of flight training." Dean just nodded. "Like. _Personally_." Sam added, dumbfounded.

"Yes, he did, and Gabriel ended up being the one to do a swan dive into the lake too." Sam quirked an eye brow up.

"Appropriate I guess." He agreed after a moment. Dean nodded looking contemplative.

"The geyser was impressive" Sam had to choke back a laugh at that.

"Nice…..but seriously, God?" Dean just rolled his eyes.

"Dude, he's God. Why the fuck would _I_ know why he decided to stop Gabriel turning me into a Winchester pancake and not help with all the other shit that's been going down? Maybe he really just thought it wasn't fucking funny." Sam sighed and nodded. Right weirdness ahoy as usual. Given Gabriel's insistence that Dean's transformation had to be something God had personally done – maybe he just didn't appreciate his most recent project getting dumped out of the stratosphere but idiotic archangels.

X X X

(two days later)

Dean stretched one long wing out – giving it an experimental flap. He'd managed to ditch an overly concerned Cas earlier and drive out to a field not too far out of town. After Gabriel's little stunt (the shit head _still_ hadn't turned back up it had been two days!) even Dean had to admit he had to have some idea of how to fly, or at the very least glide. Just in case anymore jackasses decided to drop him from high places.

Stretching both wings out he thought back to the book on birds he had snagged for a few hours while Sam had been doing research at the library yesterday. He flapped hard trying to get a feel for the lift, it took a few tries to find what felt like the best angle, at which point only two good sweeps of the copper wings had him almost lifting off the ground. His wings stalled in surprise leaving him to thump back the inch or so to the ground.

It should _not_ be that easy he thought – eyeing the wings with a frown. The wings weren't exactly _big_. At the least he should have to be flapping like a crazed chicken to get his ass off the ground. "Then again." He muttered thoughtfully. It wasn't like his wings were physical, why would they operate on physical limitations? Taking a deep breath Dean eyed the hill sloping away from him on the other side of the field. Before he could over think it he took off running, just as he hit the top of the hill, the ground falling away in a gentle incline – he snapped the wings open and beat them hard. Once, twice – he found himself shakily lifting off the ground. A moment later he lost the coordination and dropped out of the air like a shot duck. Dean groaned from his spot in the long grass, tugging one wing out from under him. Right. Not easy.

Dean picked himself up off the ground brushing bits of grass off his pants when the sound of wing beats had him straightening up – annoyance etched across his features. He froze when he saw that the two angels in front of him were not Cas and Gabriel. He was immediately thankful that his wings tucked up tight to his back. Standing in front of him as they were they couldn't see them.

"Dean Winchester." The one on the left stated flatly, his face showing no emotion. "You will come with us." Dean cursed internally, fuck. He couldn't figh…..t, wait….. Dean studied the two angels in front of him remembering when he had cut Gabriel. He _could_ fight. He didn't know yet whether he was as fast or as strong as an angel, but – he _could_ hurt them now. That was all Dean needed to go from silently panicking to the intent calm of the hunt. He was used to being outmatched in strength and speed, it was not being able to put a dent in these bastards regardless of what he hit them with that was the problem. But now…

The angel that had been silent thus far stepped forward moving steadily towards Dean. Dean smirked internally. Shifting his balance carefully he prepared to snap a wing into the bastards face. He waited until the angel was only two feet away and reaching for him before he ducked under the arm. He snapped both wings out sharply, feathers bristling and razor sharp, the angel never even saw it coming.

Jerking back with a shriek of pain as the leading edge of the wing cut into his arm the angel just barely managed to avoid losing it. Dean remained in the half crouch – wing spread, and waited. The other angel was staining at him wide eyed.

"Who are you?" he snarled suddenly as the first angel retreated behind him – free hand clamped over the glowing gash. Dean blinked confused. "You dare to take Michaels vessel!" oh, that's what he thought? Dean straightened up smiling.

"Sorry boys. Just me, no angels in here, and now there never will be. So – you can go tell Michael he doesn't have a vessel anymore and can leave me the fuck alone." They both starred at him in shock.

"You…" the first angel was looking more than a bit dumbfounded before his expression hardened. His yellow and tan wings fluffed up in anger as his expression went a little distant for a moment. "We will take you to Michael and he will reverse whatever it is you have done to yourself." Dean's smirk was a little more brittle as half a dozen more angels flickered into existence around him.

"Yeah? Well, you're going to have to work for it, boys."

X X X

Q - well, whatcha think? love it? hate it? do i need to rewrite it?


	8. Chapter 8

Quetzal – well, here we go! Sorry about the delay. Really good chappy this time I think, a new character shall appear and you will all sqwee I think. So onward, hope you like it.

X X X

Chapter 8

X X X

Dean landed on the grass hard, his wings bound by glowing bands. It had taken them nearly twenty minutes and more than a few nasty injuries to pin him down long enough to tie him up. He snorted, hoping it took the fuckers a while to heal. A brief glance around revealed him to be sitting in a massive clearing surrounded by trees that looked to be at _least_ sky scraper sized. Smaller ones dotted the spaces between, with 'normal' sized bushes and such around them. It looked ancient and wild, but with a certain air that gave the impression that it was in fact laid out _just right_ – not just growing wherever. Dean grimaced while squashing a bit of childish glee at the fact that he was very possibly in The Garden. Offhandedly he wondered how true it was that supposedly no human has stepped foot in here since Adam and Eve.

"_Dean Winchester"_ Dean went still at the voice, the odd echo was certainly a new effect, but the voice carried an edge to it that Dean had already begun to associate with Gabriel. Cas didn't sound quiet like that. With that and his likely location, he had a good idea just who his jailer had dragged him to see. Dean pushed himself to feet and managed to not take a step backward at the sight that greeted him. He had always wondered just what an angel's true form looked like, or for that matter what an archangels looked like, but even with the strange little games of tag he had taken to playing with Cas in true form he'd never actually _seen_ him.

Michael was what Dean could only call 'mountain sized' and honestly if he was remembering right he was supposed to be even bigger than that. Overall the angel looked…a lot more, well – normal then he'd have thought. He'd imagined that angels were just energy with a form a human couldn't define. What with the way everyone was always going on, but – well. The archangel may have been massive but he certainly looked like a living creature. The body looked vaguely like something you might get if you took a delicate long limbed wolf and made it moderately humanoid with elements that vaguely reminded him of Chinese dragons. The six massive wings were the same kind of semitransparent crystal that Cas's were, only Michaels were a sky blue shading down to white at the tips. His body was a lot more solid looking but the blue and cream colored fur that covered his form had a glint to it that suggested it was just as crystalline as the wings.

Dean blinked and craned his head up to get a look at Michaels face. Apparently the myths had gotten something other than the wings sorta right. Three heads stared down at him. On the left and right the heads resembled a lion and an elk? Not a moose, he thought curiously, the antlers were wrong for that – reindeer? Whatever, he turned his attention to the central head, which was by far the strangest. it looked vaguely like a human face, but it was a solid plain of crystal – like a mask. Ice white with glowing blue eyes.

Well, he'd seen stranger beasts, he figured. But down to business.

_"What have you done to yourself?" _Michael demanded leaning down to peer at him, or rather at the copper wings on his back. Dean glared up at him.

"I didn't do shit, you don't like it take it up with God, he's the one responsible for the wings." Dean spat. Michael reared back all three heads staring in shock.

"_YOU LIE!"_ Dean flinched down in pain, the shriek making his ears ring.

"JACKASS!" Dean snarled, with a wrench he finally managed to yank his wings free, fanning them wide in an instinctive attempt to look more intimidating. "You think id lie about something like that? To YOU? How fucking stupid do you think I am?" Michael snarled at him. ok apparently this was the _wrong_ conversation to have with Michael.

"_Oh you're apparently stupid enough! Father would not come back for _you_ after all I have prayed for him to return to us! To claim such just shows how foolish and desperate you are to try to stop fate! Now, I will ask again – what did you do to yourself?"_ Dean stared at Michael warily for a long moment.

"Even Gabriel agreed that it was God, the way that I changed could only have been him! Something about how the Grace I had from Cas changed or something." He finally said, Michael stared at him, the lion heads lips slowly curled back in a vicious snarl. Ah crap.

"_GABRIEL DIED MILLINIA AGO!"_ he roared in utter rage the shockwave knocked Dean back into an ancient looking tree. Dean twisted back to his feet just in time to be smashed into the ground by a titanic taloned hand. Dean felt something in his chest twist a feeling like ice water in his vein surged outward and into the new wings. A flash of golden light blasted outward Michael shrieking as he was knocked backward.

Dean, breathing raggedly, stared for a moment at the dazed archangel before bolting. Well, either he'd gotten a few more cool tricks or God had just saved his ass once again. Probably God. Dashing away he shot through the trees – trying to remember every bit of lore he could about the garden. If he was remembering right there were four gates. One on each side. No doubt they had been somewhere near the middle so it didn't really matter which way he ran, he'd find the wall eventually and a gate. Unfortunately said gates were guarded…

A few minutes later a massive wall came into sight over the trees, it towered even over the tallest of them. Dean paused to gawk at the sheer size for a moment before taking off again. A silver gate, large enough even for Michael to walk through with space to spare, came into sight off to the left. Dean grinned and changed course - a moment later he found himself eating dirt.

"Well well, what do we have here?" Dean snarled and twisted around, he knew that greasy voice. Zachariah cursed and nearly lost his grip as dean twisted under him wings tucked in tight as he made it to his back and tried to knee the shithead in the gut. Dean growled as Zachariah avoided the gut hit and slammed him back down. The smarmy fuck smirked down at him, wing wide above them. Dean shifted his gaze up to them a decidedly nasty idea forming in his mind. Zachariah would regret pinning him like this. With a hard wriggle he got his wings unpinned. Zachariah quirked an eyebrow up. "And just what do you think you're going to do, Dean?" Dean smirked up at him.

"I guess you didn't get the memo." He answered and snapped his wings upward, leading edge first and glinting like a blade. The natural curve of the wing brought them around perfectly to dig into the base Zachariah wings. The angel only had an instant to comprehend just how much of a mistake he had made before with a gush of silver blue blood his wings fell away from his back – burning to ash before they even properly hit the ground. Zachariah was frozen for an instant his face twisting into an expression of agony before Dean kicked out knocking him away. The landing jarred the angel out of shock but Dean was already moving when the first horrific howl of agony sounded behind him. Dean didn't bother looking back, he had at least a vague idea of what it meant for an angel to lose their wings. It wouldn't kill him, but Dean honestly didn't think the bastard deserved death.

Dashing away Dean reached the Gate in moments he wondered for a moment where the guard was, they hadn't left something theoretically that important to Zachariah – had they? With a snort he stepped through the open gate and got his first look at heaven. He barely even heard Zachariah's screams behind him as he tried to comprehend what he was looking at. It was like an Eschiser drawing on LSD. Right, Dean forced himself to focus and not stare blankly at the physics defying architecture. There was no way he was getting around this place on foot, but aside from his aborted practice not even half an hour ago, he had no idea how to fly.

Dean frowned and looked down, trying to trace one of the strange pathways that _seemed_ to lead further down. Right, Heaven – seeing as he wanted to get _out, _well – out was down one way or another so he could probably get by with only being able to glide. He grimaced - fear of flying or dealing with Michael, not much of a choice there he thought, and spread his wings wide all the same before jumping off the ledge and shakily following the pathway below – wobbling unsteadily in the air as he carefully rounded a turn. When Michael finally recovered from Dean's attack and had directed Raphael to see to Zachariah, the path Dean had taken had reverted to its normal configuration. Leaving Michael with no idea that Dean was heading downward a completely different way than the path before him.

X X X

Dean swore and ducked around another path dropping to the next one below as another group of angels shot across the area looking for him. He waited till they passed before spreading his wings once more and zipping away. He was certainly getting better at it. Nothing like a little motivation to get you going he thought sardonically. His gut still twisted if he got more than a few feet off the ground but he was managing.

Coming around a corner and into a plaza of some sort he paused, annoyed. The only path out was a massive rather foreboding building in front of him. Not that it really fit the normal definition of building. It was more like a massive sphere that hung in midair. The rounded platform he had come out on dropped away to the sides, the next lower path was what looked like miles below. Dean backed up from the edge hurriedly. Fuck, he was going to have to go back. He turned to head back to the nearest fork only to catch the barest edge of wing beats headed his way. He cursed and turned racing through the white stone entrance for the building.

Dean blinked at the sudden darkness as he stepped inside. Well, relative darkness. He could see just fine, but compared to the almost glaring brightness of the rest of heaven it was practically pitch black in here. He heard a commotion on the path outside and hurried further into the building. They must have been tracking him somehow he figured with a grimace. Hopefully they would think he had dropped down to one of the other paths rather than take the apparent dead end, and really – what the fuck _was _this place?

It was fucking creepy, and creepy in a way he had never expected to run into in Heaven of all places. Wandering down another hall he finally got his answer as to just what he had stumbled across. Four cells lined the walls of a dead end hallway. Dean studied them warily. Given the scale of each cell it was fairly obvious what they were meant to hold. He wondered if this was where they had kept Cas while they were trying to 'reeducate' him. He wandered down the hall curiously glancing into the first two cells. Both empty. He considered them for a moment before glancing down the hall, given how big they were the other two cells were actually quite far away. Dean considered for a moment before walking the rest of the way down. The third cell he looked into held what he had half expected to find. A quick glance told him the other was empty. Looking back he considered the curled form huddled at the back of the cell. Most of its body hidden under a ragged wing that looked to be missing half its crystalline feathers, those that remained were cloudy and cracked.

"So, what did you do to end up in here? I thought angels who really fuck up Fall?" he asked, noting the massive silvery stains on the white stone of the floor. Angel blood. Somebody had been working this poor bastard over. The angel flinched violently at the sound of his voice and somehow shrank back further into the corner. "I'm not going to hurt you, I'm not even an angel, ok?" Dean called. After several long moments a single silver eye became visible between the shredded feathers. "Hey." Dean nodded to the angel, his copper wings fluffing up a bit as he tried to look a little less threatening. The eye stared for a long long moment.

_"You're not an angel." _The angel questioned. Dean had to stare for a moment at the sound of its voice. The angel sounded like he'd inhaled a few dump trucks worth of gravel.

"No," he finally answered. "I don't think whatever I am now has a name yet, but I was human." He shrugged. The eye blinked the wing shifting slightly bringing the angels face more or less into view. It was still kinda freaky, how an angels face looked more like a near featureless mask than anything else. He'd expected two eyes now that its face was revealed but a long crack cut through the mask bisecting the other eye. It was fairly obvious that the angel was partly blind.

_"It has been a long time….since I saw a human."_ A second face, this one intact apart from a tracing of thin silvery scars peaked out from behind the one that had been looking at him. The delicate face of a deer studied him tiredly. The multiple heads thing was never going to stop being weird Dean grumbled to himself.

"How long have you been in here?" he asked after a moment, the angels eyes lost focus as he thought.

_"One hundred ninety five thousand years, three months and sixteen days," _he answered after a long moment. Dean's jaw dropped, not sure whether to be horrified or dumbstruck.

"What the fuck did you _do_?" he demanded, the angel flinched back – wing snapping back to hide his face again. A muffled sob reached Deans ears. "Ah, shit – sorry? …but seriously what could you do to deserve to locked up _that long?_" the angel shivered, the movement causing the sharp planes of the visible wing to briefly throw shards of light around the room like a disco ball.

_"I ruined everything."_ It whimpered. Dean frowned dubiously – everything? That was a damn tall order.

"How so?" he asked. The angel went still, when he spoke again his voice was completely dead.

_"I was commanded to protect Eden and not allow Lucifer entry, he tricked me, and corrupted the humans. Everything that came after was my fault."_ Dean stared at the angel for almost a minute, dead silent. He kinda wanted to be pissed. This, if this angel had done his fucking job none of it would have ever happened, but, the longer he looked at the broken creature wedged into the tiniest ball it could manage in the corner of the cell. All he could really see was Sams look of horrified terror when he realized what he'd done as light began to pour from the spiraling bloodstains on the floor of the chapel.

"I doubt it was your fault." He finally said. The angels shivering abruptly stopped.

_"What?"_ its voice almost croaked. Dean sighed and shook his head.

"You might have been the first one that Lucifer really tricked. But you certainly were never the last. I've done just as bad, and I'll probably never manage to atone for breaking the first seal, but I'm still going to try." All three of the angel's heads came out from behind his wing this time, staring at him in confused shock.

_"But…IT WAS MY FAULT!"_ the deer head weaved a bit in the air in confusion while the central masked one stared at him blankly. The third which Dean could now see was a wolf or something promptly buried itself back under the wing. "_I FAILED_!"

"IT WAS NOT YOUR FAULT!" Dean snapped back causing the angel to recoil. "Did you let Lucifer into the garden knowing full well who you were letting in? Did you know what he planned to do?" Dean demanded. The angel shrunk back a little more.

_"No.."_

"Then it's not your fault." Dean said cutting the angel off before he could going into a rant about how he was so horrible again. "Now, if he tricked you _again_ with you knowing now what he is, _then_ it would be your fault. But as it is – it's on him, not you."

_"But….father said."_ The angel trailed off as Dean snorted rudely.

"I couldn't care less what he said. It's not your fault. What it is, is your _responsibility_. And there's a big fucking difference there." Dean smirked at the shocked angel.

_"How can you say such things about father?!_" the angel squeaked, Dean rolled his eyes.

"Up until the last few days I had zero reason to respect God. He got a few points in his favor in the last week or so, but there's a long way to go before I actually respect him." Dean answered with a shrug. The angel was quiet staring at him puzzled. Dean sighed. "Alright, look – what God said before is mostly irrelevant at this point. God left a really long time ago. He turned back up in the last few days long enough to turn me into whatever the hell I am now, and yell at Gabriel for his idea of flight training, and it was probably him that kept Michael from killing me a few minutes ago when I escaped. But at this point he's been leaving everyone hanging about what their supposed to be doing. The Host starting the apocalypse? Helping the demons trick my brother into freeing Lucifer from his own prison? That wasn't on his orders, their acting on their own now. Now, are you going to sit there and pity yourself or are you going to tell me how to get this cell open so you can help stop them from killing every last human on the planet?" the angel starred at him, dumbfounded.

"_Father….left? They….they want to _kill_ the humans? But…we must protect them! You aren't capable of defending yourselves that is why we must keep the humans safe! You are family!" _the angel hissed. Dean blinked. Family? Had there actually been a point, where angels had honestly considered them…family? Amazing. Dean studied the angel intently as it muttered to itself distractedly, some of them had it would seem. The angels paused in his muttering and looked up staring at him. "_You said that you escaped from Michael….yet father has – the few times he has returned, helped you?"_ at Dean's nod the angel shifted his gaze to the ground, thoughtful.

"It's pretty much just me, my brother, Castiel and Gabriel against everybody else in this situation. They rest of them are either all for it or too scared to speak out against Michael." Dean added, he smiled wryly. "Not the best odds – but if we don't win, well." Shrugged. The angel looked up, startled.

"_Gabriel, is helping you? I heard he died"_ he asked blankly. Dean snorted.

"For the most part, and no he faked his death. He couldn't stand the way everyone else wanted to just destroy everything, he didn't want to fight – on either side, and so he left and hide. We found him a month or so ago. With my transformation he decided to stick around to see what happened. So…are you going to help, or just sit here?" Dean asked shooting a glance down the hall. He had been here too long they were going to figure out where he went. The angel was silent for a long moment. The Angel finally hissed softly to itself before nodding sharply and heaving itself painfully to its feet, several long strides brought it to the door. This close Dean finally got an idea of just how big it was. He may not have matched Michaels near mountain size, but he looked to be at least twice as big as Cas's previous description of his own skyscraper size.

"_I will help."_ Dean grinned up at him.

"Good, so – what's your name?" the angel blinked surprised.

"_My name? I..I am Gadreel."_

"Nice to meet you Gadreel. Now let's get you out of here."

X X X

Dean paced worriedly outside the little bar where Gadreels vessel apparently worked. They had stopped in some kind of little pocket dimension thing on the way to earth earlier so Dean could give Gadreel the whole 'heaven hell and the apocalypse 101' speech. _That_ had been a long conversation. Actually busting out of Heaven had involved some dramatic explosions and the angelic equivalent of smoke bombs. Luckily Gadreel for all that he was worn down and injured was plenty big enough to pretty much just run the guards over on the way out. Not that hard really they were supposed to be keeping people out and watching for Dean, not for rouge angels knocking them all on their asses and making a run for it. Now here they were here at some little bar while Gadreel explained everything to his vessel and hoped the guy would say yes. Dean was actually pretty impressed with Gadreel on this – the angel had decided to tell the man the entire truth after hearing about how angels went about acquiring vessels normally.

Defiantly earned himself brownie points there. The world around him seemed to almost hiccup suddenly, Dean paused and turned to the door, waiting. A few moments later a man stepped outside, he looked mid-thirties or something a bit scruffy maybe but not bad really. The cracked and splintered wings folded carefully over his back glinted milky white and greyblue in the dull light.

"You two good then?" he asked. Gadreel nodded carefully.

"Yes. Once I explained what the Host was trying to do and that I planned to help stop them he was only too glad to render his assistance. I agree to allow him to remain awake for the most part as well – as he knows more about the world now than I do." Dean nodded. Well that solved a few problems. Gadreel was even farther out of the loop on, well, everything – then Cas had been. And Cas was pretty damn far out of the loop.

"Good, now for the hard part." He agreed and pulled out his phone. It had been at least two days since he'd been captured. Sam must really be panicking by now. The phone rang only twice before Sam answered it.

"DEAN! DEAN WHERE ARE YOU! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?" Dean winced, glad he had been holding the phone away from his face, a button press later and Sam was on speaker phone.

"Yeah, I am fine. Little banged up but I got thrown into a tree by a really pissed archangel so I think I got off pretty damn lightly."

"Hey, Dean-o!" Gabriel's cheerful voice cut in suddenly. Dean grimaced, he certainly hadn't forgotten the fuckers little joke yet. "I hear somebody helped break you out, whose the unlucky bastard joining the team now? Maybe I'll finally have someone to complain about you two with!" Dean sighed, annoyed – but glanced at Gadreel. The angel nodded after a moment looking depressed.

"You're probably not going to like it, either of you."

"Who, me and Sammy? I'm sure regardless of which of my baby brothers you dragged down with you we'll all get along fabulously.

"I meant you and Cas, actually." Dean answered dryly. "And somehow I doubt you're going to be all sunshine and roses about it."

"Well, you didn't bring Zachariah, so it can't be too bad, kido. Heard what you did to him, can't say I like it but the little shit certainly deserved it."

"Right, it's Gadreel." Dean answered dead silence greeted this pronouncement.

"Uh, Dean? Who's Gadreel?" Sam asked cautiously. Dean smirked wryly, Gabriel must have a really funny look on his face right now.

"Gadreel is the angel that Lucifer first tricked to get into the Garden for the whole apple fiasco. He's apparently been locked up in Heaven this whole time being tortured for it." Dean didn't need to be able to see Sam to know the look of horror on his face.

"Dean." Gabriel was back it seemed. "Did it never occur to you, that maybe he was locked up for a reason?" Gabriel's voice was harsh. Dean snorted.

"Fuck that, just because he was the first person to get completely fucked over by Lucifer doesn't mean it's anymore his fault then it is when it happens to anyone else! You don't seem to blame Sam for being led around by Ruby and Lilith, and he ought to have known better!" Dean snapped back. Gabriel was quiet here, Sam cut back in.

"I think I remember that part of the story now, it never does really say what happened to Gadreel though."

"I wouldn't know, Sammy." Dean answered with a sigh shooting another look at Gadreel. "Is Cas there?"

"Yeah, he looks pretty pissed, so does Gabriel for that matter." Sam answered warily. Dean sighed.

"Great." Dean muttered darkly. "Alright, I'm staying with Gadreel for now, give those two some time to get their heads out of their asses, you can meet up with us later if they don't, alright?" Sam's sigh made him wince. "Sammy?"

"Yeah alright, but be careful – what if he's lying and he really did help Lucifer?" Sam pointed out, it was pretty reasonable really. Dean had learned long ago to trust his instincts though, and everything was telling him that Gadreel could help. He glanced at Gadreel only to do a double take. Gadreel's eyes were glowing a bit and wow did he look pissed.

"You listen to me boy!" Gadreel snarled. "I would never help Lucifer! After what he did? After what I am now responsible for because of him? You truly think I would help him? I never trusted him after he first spoke out against Father! That is why I was tasked with guarding Eden! Father knew no amount of convincing would gain him entrance if I was standing guard! That is why he had to trick me!" on the other end of the line Sam stared at the phone, a bit taken aback, he hadn't realized that Gadreel was listening. He was quiet for a moment before answering.

"Then you should know better than anyone why we need to be careful Gadreel." He answered quietly. Gadreel flinched a bit at this looking away from the phone. Gabriel starred off into the distance thoughtfully before glancing back at the phone his expression just a hair softer. Castiel was still glaring distrustfully. Gabriel glanced back at Cas and sighed. Cas glanced at him startled, they stared at each other for several long moments. Sam completely obvious to the silent conversation. Cas nodded shortly looking mutinous. Gabriel just smiled wryly and looked back to Sam.

"You can come over, neither of us is going to hurt him, Dean." Dean was silent for a moment before huffing in annoyance.

"Good, enough of this chick flick shit, where are you guys?" Dean demanded. Sam rolled his eyes.

"Same hotel as before, Chuck said we should stay in town."

"Alright, see ya soon." Dean flipped the phone closed and looked at Gadreel. The angel smiled tiredly and nodded before spreading cracked wings and flitting away dragging Dean along with him.

X X X

Quetzal – nice, hu? Dean is a bit OC but he never really does the chick flick stuff willingly so I had to fish a bit to get that to work… Also you will notice that my Gadreel is a bit different than the one you're familiar with. Personally I thought he was way to well-adjusted for how many years of being locked up and tortured by the angel guarding him? Also the number of years Gadreel has been locked up is not random. It's when Homo sapiens first appears in the fossil record. It was a good number to work with.


End file.
